<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>I'll Find You by Ruby_white_rabbit</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30094020">I'll Find You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruby_white_rabbit/pseuds/Ruby_white_rabbit'>Ruby_white_rabbit</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Attempted Murder, Booker cant catch a break in death, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Murder, Reincarnation, Suicide mention, ghost au, lykon is a ball of sunshine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:01:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,638</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30094020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruby_white_rabbit/pseuds/Ruby_white_rabbit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nile just wants a nice quiet life after leaving the marines, however, Booker needs her help remembering his past. Nile did not agree to live in a haunted house or take on some man's troubles, but if she wants her fixer upper dream home to be ghost free, she has little choice. Luckily she has friends in her new town willing to help her dig. But is it for information, or someone's grave- possibly her own</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Andy | Andromache of Scythia &amp; Quynh | Noriko, Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Nile Freeman, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>The Old Guard Big Bang</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I'll Find You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>“So, any luck today?” the tall, fair haired man asked as he sat on the bed next to Nile, who was trying to sleep and had been for quite a while. In response at first, she just rolled over so that she faced the wall, with him now behind her. She had been busy working all day on restoring her home, which he knew, and hadn’t left to do research as he had wanted. “Come on, I know you were poking around in old crawl spaces and pulling out old boxes. Did you find anything?”</p><p>Nile sighed, staring at the wall as she finally replied to him in an attempt to finally get some sleep after a long day. He had left her alone to take a bath and just soak after getting all covered in dirt and sweat, which she was thankful for at least. He wasn’t totally unreasonable in his eagerness.</p><p>“I’ll have to look closer tomorrow. I didn’t actually stop to go through every single box. This house is old and needs a lot of work. Before I go digging through storage items, I want to make sure this place itself doesn’t need any more work than I already estimated. Wiring, pipes, insulation… I need to make sure it can actually stay a home and isn’t just stuck as some old building.” She had moved in to the little two story, two bedroom home about a couple of months ago with the intention of making it her little fixer-upper and her labor of love dream home. So far, she had been spending most of her time just cleaning it out after setting up a makeshift room (one with a real bed), and getting the power and water turned on after being abandoned for so long. She was still eating out more than she would have liked currently, but she could at least bathe and sleep under her own roof. One room at a time so she wasn’t running around making everything a mess all at once.</p><p>Her company right now was her biggest issue, aside from the runaround she had gotten from someone trying to buy the home just after she had closed on it. Something about wanting the property it was on. Nile wasn’t interested. She loved this house and had no intention of letting any of it go to some big wig for god only knew what reason. Probably to build a strip mall or something if development buys were any indication. The home itself at the moment was nothing special. Built approximately in the 1930’s it was obviously run down after being empty for so long and unattended to, allowing time and weather to wear away at it. It had an overgrown yard with a rundown fence around the property line. Without the grass and brush, she could easily see the entire front yard and track the border that went around the sides. From there, it gave way to a wooded area behind the home. Everything inside the fence, or where it had once been, was now hers. She had yet to stray far into the woods, however, but knew somewhere on the property was access to a lake. She would focus on one thing at a time. Home, then the yard. Inside before outside. She could go exploring afterwards.</p><p>It wasn’t exactly in the middle of nowhere, but it also wasn’t in the middle of town either; not that the town itself was that large to begin with. Nile could walk to just about anywhere she needed to go. Groceries, out to eat, hardware store… Although she had a car for the larger trips if needed. After getting out of the military Nile had wanted some space to breathe and just to unwind; to find herself as a sort of therapy - besides actually going to therapy after she almost died. One form was highly encouraged by outside sources, the other was one of her own creation, both were by her own choice. She wouldn’t and couldn’t sell it off to someone who likely just wanted to bulldoze the area. It was far too beautiful and quiet to let that happen in good conscience.</p><p>“Okay but you’re also currently more worried about the building being stuck than over me.” The man replied, sounding frustrated.</p><p>“I’m the one stuck. Stuck with you and your nagging. At least the house doesn’t complain about my priorities.” Nile tossed a pillow at him, hearing it hit the floor as it simply fell through him without any resistance.</p><p>He made a disgruntled sound all the same, as if offended that she would be annoyed. She didn’t ask for any of this. She didn’t choose the house because it happened to be haunted. No, he made himself known two weeks after she closed on the place, popping up at the foot of her bed as she was trying to sleep; like she was now. She hadn’t even known she could see ghosts prior to that encounter, and it seemed that so far he was the only one. She had tested it by walking around the two cemeteries in town after dark, feeling ridiculous but also trying to figure out if she was crazy or not.</p><p>Although the night time groundskeeper who caught her and told her they weren’t allowing visitors during that time of night might have thought so.</p><p>No other spirits or whatever else had ever bothered her before or since. Right now, it was just her and the man she knew as Booker. That’s all he could really remember, according to him. He said he remembered being called Booker and that he used to live there. Or, at least around there in the area. He couldn’t remember his actual name, or how he died, or why. That’s why he was sticking around and trying to get her to look around for him. She sympathized, she really did, but she also had other things to deal with that were a bit more immediate in her opinion. He was already dead. There wasn’t really a deadline on stopping that from happening at this point. It, like him, had long expired by the time she arrived. Unlike him, her home did have more immediate needs; like checking for termites and making sure the walls weren’t still stuffed with asbestos.</p><p>He wasn’t a bad ghost. She really couldn’t complain compared to all the horror stories white people tended to wind up involved in. He didn’t make the walls bleed. He didn’t drag her down the stairs or across the ceiling. To her knowledge she wasn’t made to float above her bed while she slept. He didn’t throw things or slam doors. No, he was just sort of... there. Like a strange roommate who would just appear randomly from time to time. How visible he was varied at times, sometimes he had a complete form but was entirely see through. Other times he was more solid looking but disappeared the further down you looked, to where he seemed to be missing his legs as they faded off. She wasn’t really sure if they were forms he could control but she did notice that the more faded he was, the longer it took for him to show up again. Although the visibility didn’t stop him from making himself known, as sometimes he liked to just be a disembodied voice.</p><p>“Look, Booker,” Nile said, closing her eyes as she sighed and then rolled over to face him. Or at least, where he had been a moment before he had decided to fade off and sulk. “I go into town tomorrow for more cleaning supplies and to get a bookshelf. I’ll swing by the library and see if I can poke around old records or something. I really do want to help you, but I also have my own issues to deal with.”</p><p>“I know,” he replied, not really sounding upset but just tired. Not quite defeated but still surrendering for the time being.</p><p>She had agreed to help him, after all. They also had never specified a timeline for her to do so and so he was at her mercy when she was able to do so. Wasn’t all bad at least. He had company for the first time in quite a while that would also respond back to his pokes and quips. That was a nice change from talking to passers-by who never reacted to anything he did, reminding him that he was trapped and speaking more into the void than he had been to anyone living.</p><p>When she had responded back, he had been just about as scared as she was. Both of them had screamed, her hitting her head against the wall and him staggering back and falling through a pile of boxes stacked near the bed. Luckily nothing broke but he had fallen through the floor immediately after and had to make his way back upstairs once more to try and get answers. Neither of them got very far as neither one of them knew what was going on or why. They just suddenly could see and hear one another and that’s about as far as they had gotten on what was happening.</p><p>“It’s just been so long,” he mumbled, flickering a bit as he was mostly transparent when she looked at him. “I guess I’m a little overeager to try and find answers.”</p><p>Nile nodded. “I understand. I want answers too. I want to help you and I will do the best I can. There’s so much to figure out and I still have no idea where to start.” She sighed, sitting up in bed and rolling a shoulder slightly. “Who were you besides just Booker? What’s your name? How did you die and why are you still here? Why this house?”</p><p>“Why you?” He added, glancing over at her. His face was hard to make out, as he was using energy to be seen and it was fading in the moment. “Why, after the decades I’ve been here and reached out and tried… Why is it you who can hear me? Why you and why now?”</p><p>Nile shrugged as she pulled back the covers and headed downstairs. She wasn’t going to sleep just yet it seemed. She had a ghost haunting her and keeping her awake, and there was also a scratching sound she had to address as well.</p><p>Once downstairs, she went to the back door and opened it, letting in a rather scraggly looking stray cat that had been yowling to come inside. It had appeared one day in the middle of her moving in, just waltzing through the open back door as if it belonged there. She had made the “mistake” of feeding it and so it now kept coming around. It finally let her start petting it a few days ago but not much else, although it would sleep inside sometimes if it wanted to. Otherwise if she kept it inside longer than it wanted, it would scream to be let out. It would have to be a process to make it more of a proper pet it seemed, but Nile didn’t mind. It was nice to have some living company now and then. Besides, what was one more project to work on besides herself, a home to renovate, and a ghost to help pass on?</p><p>The cat meowed at her, although it was actually more like a gravely yowl of sorts but it was still very cute for a scream that sounded angry but with love. At least she liked to think it was with love.</p><p>“Hello Kyo.” Nile said as she went to the cabinet to grab a small bowl to feed it for the night. “How are you Sohma? Have a good night wandering around doing… cat things?”</p><p>Kyo Sohma meowed loudly at that, tail flicking as it walked around her legs impatiently for food. She hadn’t had the chance to check what exactly it was yet, but the attitude seemed to fit what she remembered reading when she was younger. Plus, it was orange and Garfield and Oliver were too cliché of a name for such a cat. Her brother had suggested Cheddar when he had been told about her occasional nightly visitor. She almost went for it, but didn’t want to deal with him gloating later on if it became an actual thing.</p><p>Booker faded into sight in the kitchen by the fridge as he watched them interact. “Why do you encourage that thing to come around? It’s wild, right?”</p><p>“Feral, stray, and outdoor cats can damage local ecosystems by killing more wildlife than normal,” Nile replied as she opened a can to scoop cat food into the bowl she had retrieved. “Plus, it could get hit by a car. Even if it was born in the wild, it deserves a safe home; away from nature where it will do more harm than good.”</p><p>“Is this one of your modern science facts again?” Booker asked, crossing his arms as he leaned against the fridge, careful not the phase right through it. “I swear, there’s always something with you. Some fact or correction…”</p><p>“Times have changed,” Nile reminded him. “We’ve learned a lot, corrected a lot, discovered and studied a lot. Things we thought we knew, we actually didn’t… It's how people grow. There’s always something more than what we originally thought. Nothing is ever really as it seems.”</p><p>Setting the bowl down, she was allowed to stroke Kyo’s back several times as the cat dived into the meal presented to it.</p><p>“Even you could count, you know.” Nile looked at Booker as she stood up after stroking the feline. “Ghosts don’t exist. Always thought that and yet here you are. Therapist says I haven’t fallen off my rocker or anything yet, so for all I know, you’re real even if we both have no idea why that is. Could turn out you’re just trauma created and we won't know you’re a figment until later on. Until then we have more to dig into, to figure out before we really understand the fact: Ghosts exist. We have a fact, but we need to know why, or if there’s something more to it that can be understood. That’s how it works. At least as far as I understand it with as tired as I currently am.”</p><p>Kyo meowed, staring directly at Booker as he watched them. The cat’s green eyes never being taken off of him. Now Nile somewhat had an idea of what was going on when pets stared at nothing. If she couldn’t have seen Booker herself, she would have just seen the cat staring at a cabinet.</p><p>“Then I’ll let you sleep when you’re finished with your little furry boarder then.” The spirit replied as he tilted his head slightly, watching the cat mirror the movement. “If you’re going to help me, I should aid you in doing so. That includes making sure you’re properly rested. Sleep well, Nile.” With a glance to the woman, he smiled softly and faded from sight, not returning for the rest of the evening.</p><p>--------------------------------------------------</p><p>“Ghost still giving you trouble?” The man asked as he opened a file cabinet and flipped through them as he spoke, smiling a bit to himself. “Can’t sleep because you got a special someone on your mind?”</p><p>Nile groaned as she sat on the table nearby, waiting for him to possibly find what it was she needed. “It’s not like that, and you know it, Joe. Stop trying to make it more than it really is. Which is a pain in my ass.”</p><p>Joe chuckled. “Alright, alright. No more teasing about your secret roommate.” Nile had confided in one of her new friends one night after they welcomed her to town and invited her over for dinner with his husband. After a glass or two of wine, they all were very chatty and she spilled about her unique squatter problem. Surprisingly enough, they didn’t seem to think she was crazy and instead had offered to help however they could. Nicky, Joe’s husband, had previously been a priest so he was on call if an exorcism was ever warranted. Joe, in the meantime, was the town’s resident history expert. He could dig up anything if given enough to go off of (and if you didn’t ask too many questions). “What was it you were needing again?”</p><p>“Records of the town’s residents between the 20s and 40s… supposedly. I’m mostly guessing if I’m honest.” She sighed, swinging her legs a bit as she thought it all over. “I’m just trying to figure out who he was or if someone would know who he might have been, you know? Census record, a high school graduation photo, some sort of trigger that will either jostle his memory or will give me a direction to go off of to get him to finally pass on and get out of my house to leave me in peace.”</p><p>Joe nodded, fingers skipping through the folders in the drawer before he closed it and moved to the next one. “Considering you don’t even know if Booker is his real name, which I honestly doubt, it’s going to be much more difficult to figure out unless you happen to get lucky.”</p><p>Nile nodded, taking a deep breath. “Well, most we got so far is that he knows he was called Booker. To his knowledge, he grew up in this town. And also, he remembers World War 2. At least, he remembers being aware of it. He remembers Roosevelt being president during his lifetime at least. I figure that’s on the tail end of his life because I had no clue who was in charge when I was younger; I doubt he did as well. So if we go with adult during Roosevelt, right before death, that lands us just before the end of the war.”</p><p>The man nodded again, his tight dark curls bouncing ever so slightly. He had mentioned possibly cutting it recently, but Nicky had told him “don’t you dare” so his hair was safe for the time being. Same had been said about shaving his beard. Trimming was allowed, however.</p><p>“Right, so we’ll work backwards then from about 1945, when the war ended.” He was speaking more to himself now as he closed the drawer and walked over to another one to start looking there. “Focus on males, middle aged, white.” He paused and looked at her. “He is white, yes?”</p><p>She nodded. “Yeah, from what I can tell he is.”</p><p>Joe nodded again more confidently as he started flipping through the files a bit quicker now; a man on a mission with a set direction. “Ah, how most of our problems center around middle aged, white men.” His tone was joking but they both knew he was also partially serious. “How does he treat you?”</p><p>Nile knew what he was getting at; trying to gauge the sort of man he was in life, how he behaved around others unlike himself. Even though things had changed somewhat over the years, some things hadn’t.</p><p>“He’s impatient.” She looked down at her feet a bit as she continued to kick them as she sat, watching her shoes vanish and reappear one at a time beneath her, back and forth. “But right now that’s probably the worst of it. He actually listens, doesn’t insult… He treats me like I’m a person and not a hindrance if that makes any sense. I mean, he’s stuck waiting for me to figure out his problems for the most part; at least what they were that got him where he is. Yet, he doesn’t really throw a fit over being made to wait. I can tell he’s annoyed by it, but he also recognizes his lack of control and the fact he has to trust me.”</p><p>“Careful, sounds almost like you’re starting to like him.” Joe raised a brow, looking over at her.</p><p>“Very funny.” She threw a nearby pen at him. “He’s dead for one, and if anything, I’m tolerating him. I didn’t buy a home just to end up with a freeloading roommate who can walk through walls. I’m not like those people in the movies. I won’t willingly buy a home I know to be haunted or have anything like that attached to it.”</p><p>Joe grinned and went back to looking. “He’s grown on you at least. You’re talking as if he’s a real living person and not this weird secret like when you first asked about ghosts.”</p><p>She had rambled so much in that conversation, wanting to make sure they didn’t think she was crazy or on some kind of drugs when she asked their opinion and then shared about her encounter. It had been Nicky who wanted her to make sure it wasn’t some evil spirit first off; a demon needing to be exorcised. He wanted to make sure that if he got involved, that the soul would be sent to the correct place. Joe knew his husband couldn’t live with himself if he found out or had any doubts that he had sent a innocent soul to a place it didn’t deserve to go.</p><p>Nile considered that for a moment. She had grown more accustomed to him hanging around a bit. It was nice to have someone to talk to. He had opinions on the home and he made them known now and then, which would normally lead to some kind of argument between them. She shouldn’t replace that wallpaper, or go with the other color of paint. It was almost like they were a married couple at times and Nile would be lying if she said she hated it. It was annoying at times, sure, but it was also comforting. It was like the relationship without a lot of the work like dating, or agreeing on dinner. She wasn’t living in that home alone. She wasn’t working on it alone; not really. Sometimes when she would be cleaning out one of the rooms, which was her first task before she went to work on renovating, he would just sit and talk to her about whatever. Sometimes it was how different things had been when he was alive, what he could remember at least. Other times it would be asking questions about how things were now, or about Nile. “Tit for tat”, he had said. It was only fair that he learn about her if she got to dive into whatever his secrets ended up being.</p><p>“Well, he used to be a living person.” Nile replied after considering it. “His situation is a bit odd, sure, but he still seems to have his free will and personality. He still feels like a person and not some spook popping out of the shadows in the hallway, you know? He’s not scary.”</p><p>“Is he cute?”</p><p>“He’s dead, Joe.”</p><p>Joe just grinned as he replied, tone a little sing/song in nature as he pulled out a piece of paper to read over it. “That didn’t sound like a no~” He dodged another thrown pen at that. “Kidding, kidding! Not really, but maybe you should check in with Andy. I think the Sheriff's Department handles more of the death certificates and such. You know, due to official cases and all that. Could see how far back they go and maybe he has one.”</p><p>“That’s if they have a body though. I have no idea if he died of natural causes or in an accident with regrets keeping him here, or if he was murdered and wants closure. I have no idea what kind of death I’m even looking into here.”</p><p>Joe sighed in sympathy. “I know. It’s not fair that you’re stuck with having to deal with his problems, but at the same time, be glad this is a small town at least. Definitely limits the legwork in that department. Why do you think I like working here so much? Not only do I enjoy history, but it’s manageable. I can help people find family tree details and such things way easier. A lot of this stuff isn’t online so Google won’t help. It’s a process scanning and transferring all the information.” He put the paper back and pulled out another one. “Another thing to consider, which, this is just me personally if I were you: Why did a business get so interested in the property after you bought it? No one really cared much about the place till it was sold, right? There has to be some reason. I doubt it was its location. It makes no sense due to where it is in relation to the town to use it due to busy traffic.”</p><p>Nile let that sink in. It was rather out of the way. No matter the business: gas station, strip mall, clothes store… He was right. It didn’t make any sense to put anything there unless there was something… But what?</p><p>“Hey, Joe?” Nile asked after a moment. “Can you look into that too? If it’s not too much trouble? Like, who wanted to buy it, their connection to the town… that sort of thing?”</p><p>He hummed in thought, tilting his head back and forth as if he was taking a while to decide, mostly to be dramatic. “I can try… Only if you cook Nicky and me dinner once I find anything? I won’t just hand it over to you. It’s much more fun to do so over a meal with friends.”</p><p>She smiled at that, nodding as she jumped off the table and gave him a pat on the back before she left. “You have a deal. Just give me a heads up what you want and it’s yours. You’re a rock star, Yusuf.”</p><p>“Brighter than Bowie!” Joe laughed, waving as she walked out the door.</p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Nile walked into the little café, smiling as she smelled the mix of coffee and other baked goods. She was early enough today to get there before they switched the items to lunch food, which she could also smell being prepped. As delicious as they were, the smell in the morning was more appealing to her at times; like today. She had decided to stop in this morning as she knew Andy liked to grab something before work at times, if she wasn’t busy, maybe she could talk to her without interrupting anything she was currently working on.</p><p>Being a small town Sheriff, she had heard about some of the things Andy had to deal with, mostly just because they had no one else to do the job unfortunately. So, Andy got stuck with it: people in a home late at night that ended up being just a radio left on, a stolen car that had just been borrowed by the spouse to go run an errand without communicating first… Sometimes they had a serious call, but most of the time it was just solving smaller problems between neighbors. How she managed, Nile wasn’t sure.</p><p>She was there that morning, luckily. Nile slid into the line right behind her to make her own drink and breakfast order. If she hadn’t been there, she wasn’t sure how she would have gone about finding her as she hated to call her, but also didn’t know when she’d be able to get an appointment to discuss things face to face.</p><p>Andy looked tired, but not from lack of sleep. There was something on her mind as Nile cleared her throat.</p><p>“Are you alright, Sheriff Andy?”</p><p>The woman turned and smiled at her, relaxing a bit as she did so. “Ah, Nile.” They had an introduction of sorts when she had first moved in, Andy introducing herself and trying to make Nile feel welcome as much as possible. It hadn’t felt like an interrogation. It somehow had felt like a genuine welcome, which Nile found refreshing from an officer. “I’m alright, but thank you for asking. You can just call me Andy, you know. I only make people call me Sheriff when they’ve pissed me off.” Nile nodded at that, but her expression still showed concern, which made Andy sigh a bit. “My wife is out of town on business. I’m just worrying about her is all. I know she’s capable but I’m not there if something happens.” There was a pause then she smiled slightly, shaking her head. “I just miss her.”</p><p>“That’s really sweet.” Nile said, genuinely meaning it and not just saying it because it was some sort of social expectation. “I’m sure she’s fine and misses you too.” Part of her was jealous. She wondered if anyone besides her mother and brother would ever miss her like that. If she really considered it, she herself felt like there was someone she was missing like that. She just couldn’t place who or why.</p><p>“I know she does. She’s busy out there doing what she loves. Traveling the world to take all sorts of pictures of places you and I can only dream of.” Andy smiled, obviously proud of her wife and her success, even if she was gone for a while. “Now then, can I help you with something? You have a look like there was something you needed. I know that look.”</p><p>Nile shook her head a little bit. “It’s nothing immediate. Just more of a question or two.” Andy nodded, folding her arms in front of her, then lifting one hand to her chin in a thoughtful pose as she listened. “Well, I’m looking into something. Town history if you will. I was just curious about how far back you guys hold onto death certificates?”</p><p>“How far back?” Andy asked.</p><p>“I’m thinking what I need is going to be sometime in the 1940s? I don’t have an exact date but…”</p><p>Andy nodded, thinking it over for a moment. “I can take a look. I think anything we have would be in storage, boxed up in the archives. I don’t know how well they’re organized though. I’m still cleaning up after the last Sheriff retired. How he got any work done…” She shook her head and then looked back at Nile, lowering her hands with a smile. “I’ll definitely look for you, and let you know what I find. If I can’t get you copies, I might have to have Lykon look over them with you just to make sure nothing happens to the originals.”</p><p>“I understand. That’s totally fine.” She nodded in agreement. “How is the Deputy doing, anyway?” She knew he was new to the force, been in town a bit longer than she had, but Lykon was still one of the newbies. They’d managed to talk informally once or twice when they’d run into each another around town. He was eager to help, seemingly always wanting to do his job the best he could, and Andy was a good enough judge of character to know that he was kind. The people of the town always came first for Lykon, his badge working under Andy as a visible promise to the public. They knew who he answered to and her standards if he ever stepped out of line.</p><p>Nile knew how police could be; big city or small town, there was normally still a definite type. But something about the way Andy and Lykon worked together was completely different. She felt at ease around them like she never had before around an officer of any sort. Word had it that once Andy took over, she’d overhauled the whole department. There had been quite a bit of pushback but whatever she had done was working.</p><p>“Lykon is being Lykon.” Andy smiled, sighing a bit as she turned back around to make sure she wasn’t holding up the line, since it had inched slightly forward. “It’s been quiet lately, which he’s happy about, but he also still has the eager energy of wanting to help on something big. I know he wants to help people, but as long as they’re safe and only need to call on us with small things, then I’ll gladly take that over someone being hurt, or worse.”</p><p>Nile nodded her agreement. It was understandable to be anxious, to do something at a job and not have anything that felt immediately important. But it was also better than having something to do at the risk of other people. “He’s a good guy. A good deputy. From what I’ve seen anyway…” she said with a shrug. “Another question I had was, do you happen to know anything about the person who wanted to buy my home right after I closed on it? Joe thought it was a bit strange, so I was wondering if you knew who they were, or why they’d been interested?”</p><p>“As a matter of fact, I had heard a little something about that…” she admitted, then held up a finger as she reached the front of the line, pausing the conversation for a moment while she placed her order. After making her request, she told Nile to go as well, letting the cashier know that she was paying for both of them. Andy got a black coffee, along with a piece of the baklava that they had every once in a while as a special treat. Nicky, the café's owner, tried to make some at least once a month after finding out that Andy loved it. It gave him a little way to show off his baking skills and had the additional benefit of also giving the town residents a chance to try new things. Nile got a chai tea and a cinnamon roll. Nicky always made them humongous, and knowing she could barely eat half in one sitting, asked the cashier for a to-go box up front so she could take the other half home and nibble her way through it for the next day or two.</p><p>“This thing is always as big as my face,” Nile snorted. “I swear they’re trying to make me overdose on sugar or something.” She laughed as the server handed the giant sugar roll over the counter on a plate almost too small for the pastry.</p><p>“And yet you keep ordering it and act surprised every time you do,” Andy retorted. “At least there’s the convenience of only having to pay for it once, and then you can spend the next few days grazing it away. Saves money in the long run I expect,” Andy laughed as they made their way to a table.</p><p>“Now then, about your home…” she continued after they’d found their seats at a small corner table.</p><p>“I had a big city lawyer come into the office with a client in tow, coming out of nowhere and trying to start something after your closing paperwork was almost finished. Just because of how sudden it all was, and how adamant the guy was to get the property, it stuck in my head as kind of odd, so I do remember that much. The attorney was actually representing another person, someone who is actually a local. His family has lived here in this area for several generations, and he comes from a fairly well-known family. Apparently, back in the day his great-grandfather or someone was the town golden boy and power player, so the buyer still tries to ride off of the fame and reputation of the family name.” Andy idly mixed some sugar into her drink as she spoke, shaking her head as she also recalled that she wasn’t too impressed with the person or his attorney, given how pushy and demanding they’d been.</p><p>“Anyway, both of them were trying to claim that the property couldn’t have been legally sold as it had been, since it supposedly belonged to someone in his family. When we double-checked the records though, their name was nowhere on the deed or anywhere in either the owner or tax histories. I told them that, as such, they had no claim to the land, and thus their claim couldn’t be legally proved.” She shrugged a bit, obviously unbothered. “They threw their little “we’re gonna sue” tantrum and left just before I was about to personally remove them.”</p><p>“Who was on the original deed?” Nile asked, pausing to ask the question with the cup still halfway to her mouth.</p><p>Andy scratched at her head a bit, closing her eyes and furrowing her brow as she tried to remember. “Lemme see…I think his original family name was Keane, his own name was Merrick, and the one on the deed was… Le Livre?” She paused, considering the pronunciation a bit. “I think that’s how it was said or spelled. Yeah, now that I think about it, the claim to your property before you was Le Livre. No records of any further family exist in the town, so they went ahead and sold it.”</p><p>Nile took a sip as she listened, making careful mental note of that name. “Why did it take so long?”</p><p>“That I don’t know,” Andy shrugged again with a small head tilt. “I think there was something holding them up on just getting it sold right away. They were waiting on something, so…“ and here she trailed off. “Also, I don’t know why it took you buying it for Merrick to show more of an interest in it. You would think that he would have bought it right away if it was that important to his family.” She took a sip of her own coffee and shook her head. “I’ll admit, it didn’t sit right with me. I was glad to tell them to all but get the hell out of my office. That house is yours now, period. If he continues to try and give you trouble about it in the future, just let me know.” There was both a threat and a promise in the tone of her voice. Nile could feel that Andy was genuinely on her side.</p><p>Later that night Nile slipped into her tub, having filled it with bubbles and hot water just for a nice long soak. Hair twisted and covered to keep it back and dry, she let out a nice long sigh as she slid down under until just her head was above the water and bubbles, which were popping softly and the only sound she heard as she closed her eyes. At least for a while.</p><p>“Glad to see you’re enjoying yourself.”</p><p>Nile sat up, careful not to move too fast and splash the water but also not to sit up enough to give the trespasser a show. “What are you doing?!”</p><p>“I waited until I heard you get in. I haven’t peeked.” Booker promised, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a slight shrug of his shoulders. He seemed entirely unbothered by his intrusion under his reasoning. “Promise.”</p><p>“What are you doing in here?” She growled, slipping herself down once again, this time more to make sure she was hidden instead of just relaxing.</p><p>He looked puzzled at that question, looking at her, then the room, then moved to look at his own hand as if considering it. “I... really don’t know. I just sort of arrived, I guess. Like the first night you saw me. I didn’t plan to be there where you were. I just was. Like I was drawn to where you are now.”</p><p>“Are you saying ghosts can’t control where they haunt?” she raised a brow at that, trying to figure it out.</p><p>Booker shrugged. “Sometimes I can. Like when I’m actually looking for you. Seems other times when I drift I just sort of… appear.” Drifting is what they had been calling it when he was, for lack of a better word, away or asleep. It was when he wasn’t in an empty void, but he wasn’t in her world either. He had described it to her before like a sort of middle world to recharge his spirit energy needed to be in her plane again. He could see her world but couldn’t interact with it, and all sound was muffled as if he was asleep or underwater. That’s why they decided on drifting, because he would just float in that between world, regaining his energy until he could interact with her again.</p><p>She watched him, nodding a bit as she tried to understand. It was strange for them both, she realized. He had no idea how being a ghost truly worked, and she had no prior experience as well, so they were both figuring it out as they went. They had watched some movies to try and figure out what was closest. The Swayze movie had helped them the most so far. He didn’t dare try possessing her or a guest but the energy focus to interact with objects made sense. Luckily, he didn’t leave any residue like in Ghostbusters. She could do without the slime in her house, that was for sure.</p><p>“So, why are you here with me now? Why come find me?” she asked, propping an arm onto the side of the tub so she could move and rest her cheek on it. As she looked at him, she realized there was something off. Something different. She had seen it a few times before, but was never sure why his appearance changed the way it did. Everything stayed the same: his wild blonde hair, his little bit of stubble, his white shirt with rolled up sleeves and suspenders; but sometimes, like he did now, he looked wet. Like he had gotten caught in the rain. He never seemed to really notice, but it was strange for him to switch randomly between wet and dry when she saw him.</p><p>He shrugged again and she noticed that he was, in fact, not looking directly as her. He had promised he hadn’t peeked and even now he was trying to keep his word.</p><p>“I’m not sure. I just know you went out today and I was curious. Guess me just thinking about you popped me on over.”</p><p>“Little creepy, but still makes sense in a ghosty way,” she admitted. “But I did get the chance to ask around and managed to find something out.”</p><p>That seemed to get his attention, making him stand up a little more and actually look at her. “What?”</p><p>“It’s not much yet, but I got at least a last name to go off of possibly. We’ll need to check other documents and stuff to see what to make of it but I have gotten at least that much.”</p><p>He nodded, smiling a bit, seeming excited to finally have something to go off of. “Alright, that’s something. What is it?”</p><p>“Does the name Le Livre mean anything to you?” She asked, watching him closely. “It was the name on the deed to this home. The person who owned it before me. I don’t have a first name yet but that’s as much as I was told. Le Livre.” When she said it, she definitely saw a flicker of recognition in his eyes. He knew that name, but it was just a matter of where.</p><p>He nodded. “Yeah, I… I know that name. It feels familiar. Sounds familiar. I think… I think it’s my name.”</p><p>She sat up, grinning widely. “That’s great! You remembered your name! Booker Le Livre!”</p><p>Booker shook his head. “No, that’s not right… the last name feels right but Booker with it doesn’t… It’s something else. Booker was… Booker is my nickname. No one ever called me by my first name really. I remember that. The only people who did that were my parents and Ama.” He paused, realizing what he had said.</p><p>“Who is Ama?” Nile asked, tone careful now. She realized what had happened and needed to be careful now. They had unlocked a memory. They could find out more about him and she didn’t want to risk losing that for as long as they could manage.</p><p>Booker took a moment to try to cling to it and collect his train of thought. “She was one of my friends. My best friends. She was a lot like you… She wouldn’t let me get away with anything, she spoke her mind… It’s sort of funny that your name is Nile, actually.”</p><p>“Why?” she asked, tone a little more apprehensive now. She had gotten mixed opinions on her name growing up, as most kids with unusual names did. Some people thought it was cool, but then there were the ones who would of course mock it.</p><p>“Nile is a river. Ama’s mother always wanted to travel the world. She told me once that her mother always dreamed of visiting the beauty of the Amazon but got pregnant with her before she got the chance. So, she named her Ama so she could have the beauty of her dream with her.” He smiled softly as he recalled that. “Both rivers…”</p><p>“Maybe you have a type.” She teased, trying to keep the mood light.</p><p>It did get a little bit of a chuckle from him, making him nod in agreement. “Perhaps. Seems I’m drawn to ones like you.”</p><p>Nile nodded. Now she just had to find out his first name to really find out what was going on. If he was the same Le Livre, it would make sense that he was somehow tied to his own home. But there were still more questions then. Why was he connected to his home? Was it something specific he was tied to or the location in general? Why or how did he die? Had it been a sickness, an accident, or something else? Why was he still hanging around, also? What did he have to do to finally find peace?</p><p>“Do you remember anything else?” Nile asked, leaving it open so her asking more pointed questions didn’t throw off his train of thought while it was going.</p><p>He looked down a bit as he thought, brow furrowing as his hand moved to rub his head, looking almost like it hurt. “I’m not sure. Sometimes I get just… flashes.” He shook his head, lowering his hand again to cross his arms over his chest. “I’ll see places, or people, but can’t make out the signs on the buildings, or faces of the people. Sometimes I think I hear voices, like... ones of children. I don't know who they are though. It’s right there but if I linger too long on it, it gets lost.”</p><p>As he looked down, Nile climbed out of the tub, grabbing her towel and wrapping it around herself before she reached out a hand towards him. She hesitated, not sure if it would make contact or not but she wanted to at least try. He noticed the movement and watched her as she put a hand on one of his forearms in comfort. He had to focus to make himself solid enough for the contact, but the effort was worth it. Her gesture was very much appreciated. Nile couldn’t help but notice how cold he felt against her palm. Her first time really touching him. She wondered if he could feel it.</p><p>“I won’t leave you here, Booker.” She promised. “I’ll help you remember and pass on. I’m not giving up on you. I will help find out who you were and what happened.”</p><p>
  
</p><p>Joe had insisted on tacos when he finally had found something, especially with the additional information Nile had passed on she had learned from Andy. Luckily, Nile had a baller recipe she had snagged from a mate when in the Marines and was in the middle of frying up the tortillas just the way she liked by the time the boys arrived with files and dessert in hand. Joe had reminded her when he made his meal request that Nicky was a baby compared to them when it came to spices. She hadn’t left them out entirely, but she had toned them back and left the really hot ones on the table so she and Joe could add to theirs as needed.</p><p>They had set up in her living room. Now that she had the bedroom and bathroom mostly done, she had started inching her way into the living area next. Boxes were still scattered around the room, but were pushed more towards the walls. The furniture she had was set up although not in what would be their final places, a couch and some chairs, and she had managed to uncover her coffee table from under some smaller boxes and frames for them to eat on. Using boxes as additional tables, they spread out the food and files to go through together as they split a bottle of wine between the three of them.</p><p>“Alright, so I looked into what you asked me to and I did find a Le Livre family that lived here back in the 30s. The name that came up the most was a man named Sebastien Le Livre. Sebastien is also the one who owned this house. In fact, he built it. However, they seemed to have all just sort of… died off.” Joe said as he held up a sheet of paper and skimmed it before handing it to Nile to look over. “Last recorded members were a husband, wife, and three sons. Three of those members died in a house fire. One of the only two survivors and youngest of the family died of measles as a child a few years later, leaving just the father. And the father was Sebastien.” Joe continued a bit as he pulled out other papers and this time handed them to Nicky to look over until Nile was done.</p><p>“That’s awful…” Nile mumbled, looking through the names.</p><p>“Jean-Pierre.” Booker’s voice popped up behind her, nearby but not looking over her shoulder. Far enough that she knew he wasn’t reading the page. He was remembering. “He was 12 when it happened. 1932.” She couldn’t peg the emotion behind his voice. Sadness? Regret? Longing? Something else?</p><p>“There’s more.” Joe continued as he pulled out another paper, making sure it was the one he wanted. “Turns out, not long after, he got drafted for World War 2. After that, there’s no record of him. Don’t know if he ran off or actually went and was killed or just… decided to start over and never come back. That’s the last we have of him as far as a paper trail I could follow.”</p><p>Nicky took a drink of his wine as he shook his head. “Had to suck to be that guy. Whole family gone in a few years? Then get called to most likely die? This guy did not have it easy… I can’t imagine going through something like that at all, let alone back to back… I think I’d also rather just disappear.”</p><p>“Was this guy your guy, Nile?” Joe asked, watching as she seemed to have zoned out, no longer reading the paper as she had stopped to listen to Booker.</p><p>She looked up at that, then over her shoulder a bit to see Booker standing there, running a hand along one of the doorframes gently. “I remember.”</p><p>“Yeah…” She breathed, watching the man that only she could see as he was now mourning a family he had forgotten. A wife and children he hadn’t known he once had. She couldn’t imagine what that had to feel like. “I think this is the same person…”</p><p>Joe nodded, watching her carefully now. She seemed distracted and distressed. Nicky noticed too, taking another drink as he realized what he had previously said could have been offensive. Joe had dropped this mass of information they didn’t have before on her, or them, so it was a lot to take in if it was in fact the right details.</p><p>“Jean-Pierre was all I had left after the fire. Then he was taken from me as well.” Booker mused, voice catching slightly. “I felt like I had failed them all. I couldn’t save any of them. My wife, Flora, she promised that she would find me after the fire separated us. She had told me to take care of him. She made me promise I would live.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t do any of that. Neither one of us kept our promise. She never made it out of the home to find me… I couldn’t save our son, or myself.” He trailed off a bit, wincing as he rubbed his head. “What if… I killed myself? What if all of this is my fault?”</p><p>Nile stood up, both men watching her as she made her way over to the ghost. They still couldn’t see, but it was interesting to observe all the same. Hearing his wife and child’s name stirred something in her. A sadness for him. A name made it more real. A name was something more tangible to hold onto. They weren’t just nameless memories anymore. They were Flora and Jean-Pierre. They were Booker’s family whom he loved dearly and lost tragically. She couldn’t even imagine going through what he had. She could feel his pain, if even a fraction, and it hurt her.</p><p>“There’s no way all of it was your fault,” she stated, trying not to cry for the moment. She didn’t want him to feel like it was only out of pity. “I can’t speak for how you died, but you losing your family is not your fault. I can tell you loved them too much for that.”</p><p>He took a breath, not that he really needed to do so, and looked back at her. “Ama said the same thing. She told me to…” he trailed off a bit as he glanced around, examining the room and seeming to remember something. He vanished a second later.</p><p>“Hey!” Nile stepped back. “Booker? Booker!”</p><p>“What happened?” Nicky asked. “Did we upset him? I didn’t mean what I said…”</p><p>“I don’t know. He remembered his family and then just disappeared.” She stood there for a moment, seeing if he would come back and then moved to sit back down, downing most of her wine as she wiped at her cheeks to try and keep herself from crying in front of them. “I don’t know what just happened. He remembered his name, his family, then disappeared on me.”</p><p>“Did he pass on?” Joe asked. “Was that it?”</p><p>Nile sighed, sniffing and then rubbing her neck as she refilled her glass with wine. “I don’t know. Didn’t really feel like it, not that I know what a ghost passing on feels like. He didn’t seem like he was completely at peace or anything. He just seemed overwhelmed.”</p><p>Nicky gave her a sympathetic look. “Understandable. Not remembering anything to remembering an entire family, and also losing that said family? I can’t imagine remembering Joe the way I do now after forgetting, only to lose him once more. I would search lifetimes for him if that were me.”</p><p>“I swear we’ve done that.” Joe agreed. “The way we clicked and felt like we knew each other our whole lives already? I believe we’ve done it before. That we were destined for one another and will search every lifetime for the one we’re meant for.”</p><p>“One myth says you become like the person you once loved in a past life.” Nicky agreed. “How many times do you think you and I have switched back and forth to find one another if that’s true?”</p><p>Nile looked toward the doorway where Booker had stood, feeling a pit grow in her stomach slightly. It was an odd feeling. A longing, a jealousy of sorts. What if that’s why Booker was there? He was stuck searching for his missing half that was no longer there. What if his wife was the Nicky to his Joe, or vice versa? If he was, then why did that fact bother her? Again she found herself longing for something like that, something someone else had. But if he was truly gone, then she never got her own closure. She hadn’t gotten the chance to say goodbye to her unconventional friend, that she reluctantly had grown attached to if she admitted it.</p><p>One of the windows had been left open a crack to let in some of the cool evening air, allowing for little paws the scratch and claw their way in through the opening. No one noticed until Nicky yelped in protest as his glass was kicked over, some of the chicken from his taco was swiped from his plate, and Kyo disappeared under the couch between Joe’s legs.</p><p>“When did you get a cat?” Joe asked as he got down to look under the couch at the intruder. Nicky moved to grab napkins to get the wine that had been spilled. Luckily there wasn’t anything to really damage due to it all still being packed or hardwood, but a mess was still a mess.</p><p>Nile couldn’t focus on her feelings now, the cat having literally crashed the party. One issue at a time. This one was easier to manage and required immediate attention. “A little while. It’s been a work in progress.” She got down on the floor beside Joe and made little click noises to try and coax them out. “Kyo. Come on little one. Come on out.”</p><p>“Are they a boy or girl?” Joe asked, wanting to address the feline properly as he assisted in extracting them from under the furniture.</p><p>Nile stuck her hand under and got a protective swat from the cat, not wanting her to steal their catch for the night. Kyo had gotten the chicken, and by golly, they were going to eat that chicken. “I don’t actually know. I haven’t been able to grab them long enough to check. I’ve been switching back and forth just going off on how it feels in the moment.”</p><p>Nicky picked his plate up to protect it further, holding it in his lap now. “Well, they remind me a lot of Joe right now so I say that they’re a boy. Stealing my food…”</p><p>Nile rolled her eyes and sighed. “You two are ridiculous. Believing me about a ghost, probably doing illegal things for research, distracted by a cat…”</p><p>“That’s mostly Joe.” Nicky corrected. “I don’t do anything illegal.”</p><p>Joe sat up, looking offended toward his husband. “So you’re saying I do break the law? Really, Niccolo, you would sell me out so easily? You would turn your lover in just like that?”</p><p>“I refuse to go back to jail.” Nicky replied as he took a sip of his wine.</p><p>That made Nile sit up and look at him. “Back to jail? You’ve been there before?”</p><p>Nicky kept drinking, mumbling things in Italian to himself between sips, only to have Joe, who had taught himself his husband’s native tongue, to reply in kind. Nile couldn’t tell if they were flirting or arguing and, frankly, was too overwhelmed by the whole thing to ask.</p><p>“Well,” Joe eventually gave up, sitting beside his husband and draped an arm around his shoulder. “We should probably keep looking into this ghost of yours, right? I mean, even if he did happen to pass on…” He looked over at Nile, a knowing look in his eyes. “You also still have questions, correct? Just because you know who he was doesn’t mean you know exactly who he was. There’s a lot you still don’t know. You want to know who you’ve been living with.”</p><p>Kyo came out once they were done eating, walking around their legs innocently, as if they had been welcomed in and had done nothing wrong since their arrival. Nile reached down to pet them if they allowed her to.</p><p>As she scratched them under the chin, she saw movement as Booker faded into sight. He was hard to see, mostly transparent meaning he had used up a lot of energy or just wasn’t putting forth a lot to be there in the moment.</p><p>“He’s back,” she said softly, almost relieved. The tone didn’t slip by either of the two men with her. She felt slightly guilty that she was happy he hadn’t passed on just yet.</p><p>“Well, I understand he was upset, but he had us worried.” Joe said in a slight mocking tone, following her gaze. He couldn’t see Booker, but he had a feeling that Booker could see him. “We can’t help him if he keeps running off like that. Besides, look how worried he made you.”</p><p>Kyo darted off as Booker moved closer, reaching out a finger to tip Joe’s glass of wine into his lap. As Joe jumped up he swore he heard a voice he’d never heard before blame it on the cat.</p><p>“Nile, I need your help a bit longer,” Booker replied, looking over at her, watching as Kyo meandered back and rubbed against her for affection. As she gave the cat what they wanted while still giving Booker her attention, he had to admit he was a little jealous of the feline as it got the physical touch that he longed for once more. That was so hard for him to get now. The touch he had gotten from Nile previously had taken a lot of effort and energy to get even that much. He never thought he would ever be jealous of a cat.</p><p>Nicky and Joe both heard the foreign voice then as Booker spoke his next words asking for their assistance. “I think I know where my body is.”</p><p>---------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p> </p><p>“Are you sure about this, Lykon?” Nile asked as she watched him unload all sorts of equipment from his truck and get ready to take it with him. It had been a rather awkward conversation, telling him and Andy that she suspected, with no real evidence at the time, that there was a body on her property. More specifically, in the lake. Seeing as they had nothing to go off of, they had no way to officially order a proper search.</p><p>Lykon nodded, carrying a large duffle as he headed down Nile’s driveway and prepared to make the walk across her property until they found the lake hidden several acres back among the brush and trees. She had been so busy with the house, she had forgotten it was back there, especially with how overgrown everything was. “Of course, it’s no problem, Nile,” he replied, grinning wide. “For one, I scuba dove when I was in college and haven’t gotten the chance to do so for a while. Second, I’m looking for a body! A real body! I get to do a cool thing! And three, it’s my day off. Andy can’t tell me no because she’s not paying me to do this, and it’s on your property so, it’s a win all around for me!”</p><p>Nile had to smile at his enthusiasm. If she was in his shoes, she’d admit it was a pretty cool thing to get to do in such a small quiet town. Even if it was a bit on the morbid side.</p><p>The lake was fairly small, the kind that was easily hidden and out of the way. A larger one was on the other side of town, and was the one that everyone else used during the summer. This one was a bit difficult to get to and overgrown almost all the way around. There was no real shore to use as a beach, and barely much of one to use for boat docks. It could be done, but it was clearly easier to just go to the other lake a couple miles away without the necessary hike. All in all, unless you knew about it, it was easily forgotten and overlooked.</p><p>Once they squeezed their way through the brush, Lykon started pulling on his wetsuit and getting himself all set up. They had brought down a rowboat earlier, which Lykon had piled everything into so he could row himself out to dive, and then use to transport anything found back to land to Nile. Just getting the boat there had been an adventure in itself due to the brush and uneven ground which would randomly drop off as well. Lykon didn’t seem put off by any of this, however. Reminding Nile of an excitable Labrador, he was just happy he finally got to help in this manner while also doing something he enjoyed.</p><p>“Alright, now you stay here and I’ll go see what I can find.” He started pushing the boat out and looked back at Nile with a smile as he hopped in to get himself in a good location before he would flip under. “If I’m not up in an hour, call Andy. I have enough air for at least that long!”</p><p>Reckless, Nile thought. Reckless, yet lovable. What others would see as a risk, he considered it fun. He had explained that it was dangerous to dive alone, but he would be as careful as he could for her. It was also why he gave her a time limit before getting help. His tank held more than an hour of air, but a lot could happen underwater. The hour was playing it safe. He knew nothing of her ghost, of Booker, and yet was taking her at her word that there may be a body in the lake. Hell, she was taking Booker at his word, and his word was just a hunch. Lykon was helping her on less than a logical hunch.</p><p>“Ama told me once to find the place I felt most at home and felt at peace. Go there.” Booker had told Nile the previous night. Joe and Nicky had stuck around for a bit, Nicky so he could actually play with his food thief once he warmed up to them, and Joe to write down any information that might be important later. “That’s why I built this home where I did. A fresh start where I would find peace of some kind. This lake was always that place for me before, during, and after my family. If I were to go anywhere, it would be there.”</p><p>Nile sat on a fallen tree to wait for Lykon, watching the water as he rowed out, as he toppled backwards to dive into what appeared to be murky water, and then as the water stilled once more, ripples growing smaller as they spread. Until there were none left except those which were caused by the breeze that slipped through the trees, barely ruffling the surface. It was eerily quiet now as she looked over what had been hidden in her own back yard. She wondered what had happened all those years ago, right where she was now. How long had this water been undisturbed until now? What would Lykon find, if anything at all? And what had happened to Booker here at the lake?</p><p>In the distance, she thought she heard a car door close. Perhaps it was Joe or Nicky coming to wait with her. Or Andy coming to check up on them in her free time. Right now it was just her, Lykon, and the water. Booker hadn’t been around much that day as he had been just looking around the home that he had built. He was going to reminisce as they looked for his body, taking in what he could remember about his old life while he could do that, before he passed on if that’s what happened once they found his remains. He wanted to just walk through the home that he had built with his own two hands, see what he could find that he had left behind or hidden from his old life, remnants of before his death, before he lost everyone he held dear. Would he find a picture or a toy maybe hidden under a floorboard? He just had to remember where it could be first if there was anything like that.</p><p>She heard footsteps behind her, not looking for the moment. “He just went under.” Nile said as she watched the empty row boat just float where it was for now. Would he put anything inside besides his gear when he resurfaced? “He said if he’s not back up in an hour then-“</p><p>Her voice was cut off as a rope was wrapped around her throat, making her stop and hands go to her neck to try and pry it off. Confusion, anger, fear. All of those passed through her before her training kicked in and she reached behind her to start fighting back. She had until she passed out if they kept it up so she had to make the most of her time. She leaned back and then forced herself forward to throw them over her shoulder, rope slipping off in the process and reopening her airway. The force of throwing herself forward knocked her onto her hands and knees on the small muddy bank as she gasped and coughed for air. She didn’t have time to recover before the person was back and now sitting on her shoulders, forcing her head into the few shallow inches of water of the lake.</p><p>They were too heavy. She couldn’t roll or push them off. She couldn’t fight back and hadn’t gotten enough air to help her hold on as long again. Muddy water went into her mouth and nose as she still continued to struggle. She couldn’t die. Not here, not now. Not when she was so close to finding Booker.</p><p>Her head pushed back once just hard enough to break the surface and gasp out his name. She didn’t know why, out of everything she could have said, from “no” to “stop”, “please”, or anything else, that “Book” was the word she desperately choked out before being forced back under.</p><p>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>He remembered now. He remembered what had happened that day. How everything had gone so wrong. Not only his life had been uprooted by tragedy, but Ama’s had been as well. He was all she had left, just like she was all he had now. He had lost his family, and she had lost hers. His beloved sister-in-law.</p><p>That’s why he couldn’t let her get hurt anymore when he found out. He refused, even though it was his best friend at the time. Keane. The one who, besides Ama, had been there for him through tragedy after tragedy. That’s what was hardest about all this. The betrayal behind it all. Between the two of them, there was no contest to Booker. Ama would always come first, but it still was hard to confront his best friend about what he had done.</p><p>Maybe it was a bad idea in hindsight to do it when they had been fishing. The two of them alone on the lake. Booker had thought it would be a good place due to the quiet. No causing a scene, they could just talk as they always had, heart to heart about it all, and Keane couldn’t just storm away if he didn’t like the confrontation. That was a good plan, right?</p><p>“I heard you got drafted,” Keane said as they sat back to back in the boat, each watching their own line. “I’m sorry. Maybe you can get out of it somehow. Medical condition or something?”</p><p>“No. It’s just… another nail in the coffin is all. One more thing to deal with.” He sighed.</p><p>“Does Ama know?” Keane asked after a pause. “Does she know you’re going to be leaving? And going to god knows where?”</p><p>“Not yet.” He sighed. “Haven’t found out the best way to tell her I have to go. I want to make sure she’ll be okay without me.”</p><p>“I’ll take care of her,” Keane replied, glancing back at him. “You know me, I’ll make sure she’s alright.”</p><p>Booker gripped his fishing rod, restraining himself for the moment. He would give him the chance to redeem himself, however little, before he did anything that would upset Ama. No more hurting her. No more letting her get hurt.</p><p>“She’s not alright.” Booker replied coldly. “And you know that, don’t you? You’re the one who hurt her.”</p><p>Keane was quiet for a moment. “Book, what are you talking about?”</p><p>“She told me everything, Keane. You raped her. That night I trusted you to take her home safely when I had to leave early? You raped her. You betrayed both of us.”</p><p>“Come on, Booker. I’m your friend. You really think I’d do that to her? If I did anything, it’s because she wanted me to. I’ve seen the way she looks at me. You’ve seen it too.”</p><p>“I have. And recently it’s been in fear,” Booker growled, glancing over his shoulder. His friend was turning out to be not like how he thought he was. He was quickly turning into someone he wanted to beat into oblivion and never see again. “I had wondered for weeks and she finally told me why.”</p><p>“And? What are you gonna do about it? So what if I had sex with her? She wanted it. She wouldn’t keep hanging around if she didn’t like it.”</p><p>“She hung around because she knew how important you were to me!” Booker snapped. He felt so guilty now. Those times they had been together and he had invited Keane along or had stopped by. She had put on a brave face for him. He had been a part of her pain. He wouldn’t let it happen anymore. He would make it right. “You’re not coming anywhere near her ever again.”</p><p>“And how are you gonna make sure of that, hm?” Keane turned himself all the way around, looking at Booker fully now. “You’re gonna go off and play hero, maybe get yourself killed and leave her alone. How are you going to make sure I stay away if you’re gone? You can’t stop me.”</p><p>“Then I won’t go.” Booker decided then. “I’ll be a deserter. I’ll avoid the draft and do whatever it takes to make sure you stay away from them.”</p><p>Keane paused at that. “Them?”</p><p>Shit. Shit shit shit. He had just made this so much worse.</p><p>“You’re not allowed to come anywhere near Ama.” He had a plan already. One made right then on the spot. He couldn’t just turn him in to the police. That’s not how it worked back then. Ama would be the only one to really suffer. He would stay and marry Ama if she wanted. Even just for appearances. He wouldn’t let her reputation be tarnished by Keane. He knew how the town would treat her if they found out. He would marry her and raise it as his own. He would make sure that Keane never came anywhere close to them, whatever it took.</p><p>“’Not allowed’?” Keane repeated, sounding offended that those words left Booker’s mouth at all. No one had ever told him something like that before. And Booker, Booker was his best friend. He was supposed to be on his side. Not hers. This wasn’t how it was supposed to work at all. “You’re gonna tell me what I can and cannot do with my own child?” The word sounded like poison when he said it. He wasn’t going to let the girl he liked, the girl carrying his child, be stolen from him. And he knew the first chance Booker got that he would expose the kind of person he was, dragging his carefully curated reputation through the mud. He would take everything from him. “You’re not going to keep me from Ama. From what’s mine!”</p><p>Something hard hit Booker in the head then. Keane had grabbed the metal tackle box and swung it hard, stunning Booker before it hit a second time, the heavy corner drawing blood from the impact.</p><p>That was the last thing he remembered clearly. There was movement of his body, then water as he was thrown over. Lost in darkness he remembered the faint feeling of his lungs burning, getting heavy.</p><p>He knew now what had happened. He had drowned. That had been what had done it. He had been murdered by his best friend for trying to do what was best for Ama.</p><p>Booker drifted now. Between worlds as he had closed his eyes in the bedroom of his old home and floated underwater; pulled wherever the between world willed him to go. Drifting under until he heard a voice call his name.</p><p>“Book!”</p><p>Only one person really called him that. But the voice was all wrong. The voice was… Nile. He opened his eyes underwater, finding himself deep under the lake’s surface. But he had heard her. He heard Nile. She was close.</p><p>Pushing off the bottom of the lake, he headed towards where he had heard her from, feeling the water shift around him slightly. Movement. Growing stronger as he got closer. Splashing. A struggle. Nile was in trouble.</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Merrick sat on Nile’s back, using both hands to keep her head under the water as he dug his heels into the mud to keep himself secure and from being knocked off as she struggled. One hand gripping the back of her neck, the other firmly gripping the braid she had in her hair.</p><p>“You couldn’t leave well enough alone.” He grunted. “You had to go poking around where you didn’t belong. Everything my family built here and you were just gonna tear that all down, weren’t you? Destroy my family name? My great-grandfather’s reputation?” Nile struggled under him, still putting forth a good fight. He had to give that to her. He hadn’t realized how long it would take to kill someone. “You have no idea what you’re messing with!”</p><p>Merrick felt her starting to give in, the strength leaving her. Movement made him glance up. He had forgot about the diver. He would have to take care of the dear deputy next once he resurfaced.</p><p>However, what came up out of the water wasn’t what he had expected. It wasn’t Lykon in diving gear. Instead, a tall pale man with broad shoulders walked out of the depths toward them, white shirt soaked with water aside from around the neck and one shoulder where it was instead soaked and stained with blood. The blood was still rolling down the side of his head as he looked at Merrick with a terrifying look.</p><p>Booker was Pissed. He remembered everything and let his true body in death come forward fully in front of this man. His bloody murdered body that his ancestor had caused. He wasn’t going to allow Keane’s descendant repeat history. He wasn’t going to let anyone else he loved get hurt. Not Flora, not Jean-Pierre and his other sons, not Ama, and not Nile. Not when he could still save her.</p><p>Merrick yelped, falling off of Nile to get away as the figure came closer, allowing Nile to raise her head for a starved gasp of air. She moved over a bit more onto the muddy shore to breathe and try to recover as quickly as possible if she had to fight more. Her vision was blurry from the strain, but she saw the figure approaching Merrick, raising out of the water and coming onto the bank.</p><p>“You didn’t have to follow in his footsteps,” Booker growled, voice raspy now, as one was after swallowing too much water while swimming. “You are not defined by your family. Yet you made yourself just like him.” He reached out, grabbing Merrick’s foot now as he tried crawling back. He then pulled, dragging Merrick toward the water, making it seem like he intended on taking him back under with him. “If you really want to bury the past, then let’s go.”</p><p>“N-no! Please!” Merrick choked out a sob in terror, unable to break free from the concrete hold on his leg.</p><p>Booker continued to drag Merrick into the water, getting him up to his neck where he was screaming and begging for mercy, for Booker to stop. He eyed the man who had attacked Nile, as if accessing him for final judgement.</p><p>“I won’t let anyone else I love be hurt. Do you understand?”</p><p>Merrick nodded, hiccupping sobs as Booker finally released him, causing his body weight now to shift, dropping him under the water for a moment before he flailed and crawled back out a sobbing, sputtering, panicked mess.</p><p>“Nile!” Andy was almost to her by the time Booker let Merrick go, having seen the extra car when she drove by after picking up her wife. She had run the plates and was curious why Merrick would be there, seeing him holding her under from where she was on the hill as she made her way down as quickly as possible. Quynh was right behind her, camera still around her neck as she followed her wife, prepared to help however necessary. The overgrowth held them up more than she would have liked. She would ask about the man who had vanished later. Right now, she needed to make sure that Nile was okay and then arrest Merrick for attempted murder. However, at the moment he didn’t seem to be going anywhere as he was just laying in the mud crying like a baby, obviously terrified of whatever had just happened.</p><p>“Andy,” Nile croaked out, still coughing a bit as she sat up to grab onto her arm once she was close enough. “I was… he...”</p><p>“I know.” She replied, not entirely knowing, but she expected she would soon. “It’s okay. I’m here and I won’t let him hurt you.” She wrapped her arms around Nile as she lay in her lap, head against her chest as Andy held her close, letting her know she was safe. “You’re safe now.”</p><p>Quynh moved over to Merrick and shrugged before sitting on his back to keep him from getting away. Little taste of his own medicine if anything, while she waited for her wife to do the professional part of her job. “Who was the man in the water?” She asked calmly, seemingly not bothered by whatever had just happened.</p><p>“Booker…” Nile sniffed, trying to look around for him. “Where is…?”</p><p>There was a splash as Lykon resurfaced in the middle of the lake, a ways off from the boat, but still far from shore. His arm came up in victory, a skull in his hand as he lifted it into view. Upon inspection, impact marks could be found in the bone, clear signs of trauma most likely pointing at murder.</p><p>“I found them!” Lykon cheered as he pulled the mouthpiece away to yell at the people on shore. There was a pause as he realized that there were a lot more people on the shore now than when he had left. “Oh, hey boss. What are you doing here?”</p><p>Less than an hour later, Nile was once more sitting on the fallen tree, this time with a blanket wrapped around herself to keep warm after drying off. Everything now just seemed like a blur of bodies moving around, roping off the area around the lake, and even her home for good measure until they could narrow down the area better. Merrick had already been taken away in handcuffs, which he cried about and protested due to appearances. Not that that mattered much to Andy, or even Quynh, who was still there taking photos of everything. They were sure she had some excellent images of Merrick’s arrest. Lykon had been sent back under, now under official orders to retrieve the body, which he gladly did.</p><p>It was surreal to watch him bring up bones, Andy returning to help assemble them on a tarp as the local medical examiner, a man named Copley, came to help determine what happened with what he could see. Those bones Nile was watching them examine and look at had once been Booker.</p><p>She found herself crying quietly, not even realizing she had started to tear up. She was only aware she had tears rolling down her face when a hand appeared and moved to wipe them away.</p><p>“Book…”</p><p>“Hey,” he said softly, kneeling in front of her, still unseen by those around them, but more clear and solid to her than he had ever been. Any blood that had been on him in front of Merrick was gone now, clothes dry, crisp, and clean now for her. “You didn’t think that I would leave without saying goodbye, did you?”</p><p>She started crying in earnest then, looking up at him. “how did you... with Merrick? I don't understand..."</p><p>Booker thought a moment. "I was tied to the lake, not my house. I only thought I was tied to the home because whenever I left to try going to town, I was pulled back to the back yard just past the porch. Guess I assumed because the house was closest that that was where I was stuck. I just dropped me in the middle of the property but now I know that the closer to my body I was, the more power I had. I could never touch anyone without almost all my energy before today. Before you called me to you..."</p><p>"I know you should but… I don’t want you to go. Booker, please…” Her voice was quiet. She had been afraid to admit she even really saw him as a friend, and now that same friend had no further reason to stay.</p><p>He held her face in his hands for a moment, shaking his head. “I have to. Everything is cleared up and makes sense now.” A smile tugged at his lips as he said that. “Remember when I wondered why you, and why now? I think I get it… You found me. In every sense of the world, Nile. You found me.”</p><p>The words were soft, yet tugged at something in Nile. It made sense to her. That’s what she had been missing, been looking for. It had been him. It had been Booker. Somehow, she was Flora and had been looking for Booker all this time.</p><p>“But now you have to leave again.” She sniffed. “You’re leaving me…”</p><p>“Only for a little bit.” He mumbled, still holding her face gently as he looked at her. “Now it’s my turn to find you. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll get it right.”</p><p>Nile opened her mouth to protest but was caught in a kiss from Booker. His lips were warm this time, unlike his arm the first time they touched. He pulled back after a moment, smiling softly before he winked and faded from sight. “I’ll see you later. Promise.”</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Nicky and Joe hung around a lot more after the whole ordeal, partially in a protective brothers sort of way, but also because they both knew that she was alone now. With Booker gone, she would need someone around to bother her. They had all banded together and worked on her house, getting it all fixed up and unpacked. Nicky had helped with the kitchen, insisting that Nile install some specific features here and there. Joe had helped Nile move the couch just where she had wanted it originally, even though Kyo kept hiding under it once she found herself officially an indoor cat. They had finally managed to confirm that, yes, Kyo was a girl after she had given birth under the front porch.</p><p>Joe had been very excited to go under and smuggle all five little ones out in his sweatshirt pocket. There had been four girls and one boy. Two of them were tortoise shell twins and Joe and Nicky quickly called dibs on the two of them. A matched set they would be hard-pressed to ever separate. Andy and Quynh agreed to take a little gray one that purred and fell asleep the moment it crawled into Andy’s lap when she stopped by. Lykon meanwhile had fallen head over heels with the black one that loved to play with him when he came by, always swatting at his shoelaces or trying to climb his pant leg.</p><p>Nile had decided that she would keep one of the five, the only boy and Kyo’s mini-me. He had needed a little extra attention, meaning he bonded to Nile as she had to take care of him, bottle feeding and keeping him in her pocket every hour of the day. As he grew, he fell asleep curled up against her neck, somewhere that had been a trigger for Nile after the attack. Even if she touched it herself sometimes she would remember the feel of Merrick’s rope around it, pulling. However, the first night he slept curled against her like that, she had the most peaceful night’s rest that she had in a long time; no nightmares, no stirring. Just the feeling of peace and like things were exactly how they should be.</p><p>Merrick’s motive had further come out after the arrest. He had known about his great-grandfather’s past due to stumbling upon Ama’s diary when cleaning out his father’s study. She had written what Keane had done, and then about Sebastian dodging the draft. She always suspected more though. She didn’t ever believe that he would have just left her, no matter what demons he had been facing before. Keane also had left something behind for his son, which got passed to Merrick eventually. It was a confession, and a request to keep the secret from getting out. Once he realized what had happened and what might come out, he tried to buy the property to keep Booker’s body hidden. But Nile already had legal claim so that option was out. His plan to kill her had been not exactly premeditated. He had considered it an option but seeing Lykon carry scuba gear down to the lake put him in a panic that made him act.</p><p>All that would have happened was the people still alive, who didn’t even have any real connection to Keane, would find out he was an asshole. No arrests could be made. No one who had any real ties to Keane, Ama or Booker were still alive aside from Merrick. Yet the clean reputation of his ancestor being a good, upstanding citizen was so important to Merrick that he had risked his own reputation to hide the truth. The things important and powerful people liked to cling to would forever be a mystery to Nile.</p><p>One of the outstanding quotes of the whole case had come from Andy, documented wonderfully on her body cam which she had worked hard to procure. Merrick had fought the arrest later on, throwing a tantrum when it didn’t work. He had spat out “Fuck the police” and Andy had calmly replied that “They’re a different department. I’m the sheriff. But I’ll pass the message along.” Quyhn had perfectly captured the most wonderful image of his facial expression at that, which she later heard became a meme. Whatever that was. She was just glad it made a bigger fool of the man.</p><p>Andy swung by one night after Joe and Nicky had come over to make Nile dinner; she had something to deliver that she thought might be interesting to her. She didn’t really have any real connection, but she figured that for Nile, she would appreciate what they had recovered. There, in the plastic evidence bag, was a wedding ring.</p><p>“I don’t know a lot about the guy this belonged to, but since it seems to be that guy you were so interested in finding out about, I figured you would take the best care of it. Merrick doesn’t have any claim since it wasn’t his family member, so…” She set it on the table in front of them, shrugging a bit. “He seemed nice.” She admitted. She had told Nile what she had seen, confirming Merrick’s story so he couldn’t claim insanity (he had hoped he could get away with it, but her confirmation made his plan backfire), but also the fact that the one who attacked Merrick had been defending her.</p><p>Nile nodded, smiling a bit as she examined the small clear bag for a moment and the ring still inside before putting it back down. “Yeah… he was nice. Annoying at times… but…” she trailed off only to have Joe cry out as the orange kitten leapt up onto the table, knocking over his glass into his lap as he dove for the ring, swatting it around on the table before he was stopped. Nile grabbed the kitten, Andy snatched up the ring, and Nicky ran to go get Joe a towel for his pants.</p><p>It was an oddly familiar feeling as she held her kitten, looking down at him as his tail flicked playfully, eyes on Joe now as Nicky helped dry him off. It was almost like the night they had come over before finding Booker’s body. Something similar had happened then.</p><p>Lifting the kitten up, she stared into his eyes for a moment, his blue eyes. Just like…</p><p>“Book?”</p><p>The kitten looked at her, blinking in a way that was almost a wink before he squirmed, wiggling free and hopping off the table to go play somewhere else.</p><p>As crazy as it was, she had a feeling that he had kept his promise and found her. It wasnt anything like she had expected. She couldn’t confirm it, but she knew. And they would keep finding one another somehow until, one day, several lifetimes later, they would meet again at the perfect time, in the perfect matching bodies, and try life together all over again.</p><p> </p><p>
  
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>